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Respite care report

Healthwatch Coventry finds out views of those using carers breaks

We asked family carers and those they care for about their experiences of respite or replacement care provision. We wanted to find out if the service met the needs of those who usually do the caring role and those who are cared for.

We found:

Most family carers thought that the respite received supported them to continue in their caring role by providing a break or enabling them to do other things they needed to do and met the needs of the person cared for. Some carers said that more respite hours would be beneficial.

Carers flagged that they need to book respite care ahead, some saw this as a positive but for others there were some issues around availability of/finding the right provision.

It was less clear if current provision could accommodate needs which came up quickly/in an emergency situations of need.

Family carers highlighted a desire for more information and some issues around making sure information is up to date and how services communicated with each other.

Some simple steps could be taken to provide better ways for people to feedback on the services they are experiencing.

The result:

We made recommendations to Coventry City Council Adult Social Care and as a result work is underway on:

A clearer review mechanism

Exploration around how providers feedback / handover processes and how information is shared between families can be developed